The time has not yet come to impose international sanctions against Sudan's government, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's envoy Jan Pronk said in Oslo on Monday.

"You should always keep sanctions in mind as a last instrument but it is not yet time to use the last instrument," Pronk told reporters after meeting with Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Petersen.

"Sanctions, don't forget, is a very cheap instrument," he said, according to reports.

Meanwhile, Pronk called instead for a large observer mission to the strife-torn, crisis-ridden Darfur region.

"The major instrument that the international community has to protect the people is to send observers, whether they are African observers or other observers, but (there should be) enough (of them), with a good mandate and a lot of logistical support," he said.

"Even if you don't call them a protection force but you call them a monitoring force, if you would have thousands of these people, it would deter attacks coming from the Janjaweed," he said.

Pronk said he had detected some progress being made by the Sudan's government, such as a marked improvement in security and the suspension of "the disastrous policy of forced returns."

But he said that "the key chapter" -- the disarmament of militias -- was still not accomplished.

"I do not have evidence of close cooperation between the military and the Janjaweed," he said.

The UN Security Council adopted a resolution on July 30, giving Sudan 30 days to make good its promises to disarm the Janjaweed militia, bring its leaders to justice and protect civilians in Darfur, or face economic and diplomatic sanctions.

Source: Xinhua